Nelarth, Lord of the Black
Nelarth, Lord of the Black (pronounced "Kneel-arth (as in "harth") is a dragon that features in Defenders of Earth. Originally the second in command of the Demon Empire, he is the new commander of the Empire and eventually evolves into the series' antagonist along with PHANTOM. Appearance In the first part of Defenders of Earth, Nelarth is mostly hidden behind the scenes and in Monsters and Girls, only his face is shown. It's not until Warlords does he get a full description: Tranquil onyx eyes sit sunken within Nelarth's rounded, narrow skull, which gives the creature a vicious looking appearance. An enormous central horn sits atop his head, just above his large, dog-like ears. Large fan-like skin and bone structures runs down the sides of each of its jaw lines. His nose is short and has two narrow, pointy nostrils and there are crystal growths on his chin. Two huge teeth poke out from the side of his mouth and give a slight hint at the terror hiding inside. A lean neck runs down from his head and into a huge body. The top is covered in wide black scales and rows of crystal growths runs down its spine. The bottom is covered in radiant skin and is coloured lighter than the rest of his body. Six bulky limbs carry Nelarth's body and allow the dragon to stand noble and illustrious. Each limb has 6 digits, each of which end in thick talons seemingly made of stone. Graceful wings grow starting from his shoulders and end at the lower end of his back. The wings are rounded, thick skin and eerie bone structures make up most of the wing and armor-like scales grow on top of the wing's primary bones. His spiky tail ends in a sword-like edge and is covered in the same wide scales as its body. Personality For a dragon called "Lord of the Black", Nelarth is surprisingly more consistent in the treatment of his minions such as Sovmulnaar and refuses to berate him for failing to kill Rivelnesh along with seeing no failure in subsequent attempts to capture or kill the dragon-ess. But putting his attitude towards his allies aside, Nelarth is a very militant and arrogant dragon in contrast to the much more benevolent Venia, Lord of the Skies (as he eventually comes to be) and also sees dragons as the superior species as shown in his opening monologue: "Each generation has cried out, for a new world! But has built the same, old one corrupt and weak! But the new world, shall come to pass! We shall purge the Earth of these pathetic humans!" Along with Flamiglaux in The Mammal Wars, Nelarth gives PHANTOM the same thing as the Syndicate would have given the Black Sun and Das Schwert: A 0% approval rating, though not so much out of "even evil has standards" as much out of his own contemptuous attitude towards humankind in general. Powers and abilities To be added at a later date Defenders of Earth Monsters and Girls: Following Sovmulnaar's failed attempt to kill Rivelnesh, the dragon returns to the Empire's homeland in the Himalayas where he reports his failure to Nelarth expecting punishment...but Nelarth gives him none, both when he fails the first time and the second time. The second time, Nelarth tells another dragon to rise in the form of Quenth, Destroyer of Men and says that Rivelnesh shall see the rise of another dragon in the form of Sarmeyzmal. Invaders and Wives: Nelarth's first appearance in Invaders and Wives is back in the Himalayas when he tells one of the dragons in the story Quenth, Destroyer of Men that his ally Sarmeyzmal has arose in Turkey and orders him to join him in their attempt to kill Rivelnesh. At the end of the story, Nelarth appears again where his much calmer temper comes out when he tells Sarmeyzmal that he has failed at nothing because unlike PHANTOM who are frequent exponents of He Knows Too Much, You Have Failed Me and You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, he is a dragon which confuses the dragon. Nelarth's response? "Humans are disposable; Dragons are like water. They can be used over and over again. And in this war, both sides need as much dragons as they can get; The only difference is that the Empire needs more dragons than Venia." In an original draft, Nelarth would have told Sarmeyzmal that he was among the numerous dragons sleeping in the Earth with the following dragon being Belluftkin but the story Devil Sins was ultimately scrapped and Belluftkin features with Munkrengraag in Patterns of Hell. Warlords: Nelarth first appears back in the Himalayas in a full body shot, observing the distance and making an Apocalypse style monologue at the world which is overheard by Sarmeyzmal: "Each generation has cried out, for a new world! But has built the same, old one corrupt and weak! But the new world, shall come to pass! We shall purge the Earth of these pathetic humans!" When Sarmeyzmal asks Nelarth whether he will be going to finish what him and Sovmulnaar tried to do, the warlord replies: "No, Sarmeyzmal. I confess, for too long I have left matters to underlings; but a good leader must set an example for his troops. Wouldn't you agree? But despite what you say, Sarmeyzmal; I will show humanity who their true masters will come to be. Not this pathetic organisation that dares call itself PHANTOM or its equally farcical allies: The ludicrous organisations that dare call themselves GARGOYLE and SILENCE. Starting with PHANTOM's base: Russia." Indeed, Nelarth does fly to Russia and begins to decimate St. Petersburg...the exact same city that Yevgenia Agrafena met over a hundred if not a thousand potential recruits for the Vixen organisation in their fight against PHANTOM and of those recruits, is now left with the Russians who wanted to join the organisation. As Nelarth attacks St. Petersburg, Yevgenia steals a step van and drives away quickly with the van full of Russian Vixen recruits. Indeed, Nelarth's own rampage becomes interrupted by an unknown force blowing huge smoking holes in his wings causing him to fall to the ground. His attacker? Venia, Lord of the Skies. The two dragons fight in St Petersburg where in the process, Nelarth gains the upper hand when he shreds Venia's wings so much in the hope they won't regenerate and throws his enemy around like a ragdoll. The fight eventually takes to the skies and to Mongolia where in the process, Venia supposedly kills Nelarth. But the dark dragon doesn't go down easily and the two dragons fight again in Mongolia where in the process, Nelarth tries to drown Venia but another dragon foils that attempt and with the combined efforts of that dragon and Venia, the Lord of the Black is forced to flee. Back in the Himalayas, Nelarth addresses another voice who is now in the position that he was in in his last two appearances: In the shadows. To the voice, the dragon orders it to send a message to two of the Empire's military commanders: Sarmeyzmal and Nusuntluv: The Dragon Civil War is about to start again and Earth is about to get itself involved in two kinds of war: Human and reptile. Though as he tells the voice of these kinds of war, he forgets that there is another war in the United Kingdom, though in reality, The Mammal Wars is much more like a feud than a flat out war which is why Nelarth never mentions it. Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Villains Category:Monsters